Ryan Blaney rages as NASCAR rival costs him $1M – Sports News
Ryan Blaney swiftly descended into a match of rage after John Hunter Nemechek value him a shot at $1 million during the Brickyard 400.
On Lap 120 of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race — during which Carson Hocevar flipped off Corey Heim from behind the wheel — Nemechek noticed a gap open up within the center at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and aggressively tried to shoot the hole. But the lane disappeared as Blaney continued to maneuver down the monitor, inflicting the Legacy Motor Club driver to spin the No. 12 Ford into the surface wall between Turns 3 and 4.
Blaney did little to cover his frustration with Nemechek, shouting over the group radio: “F— that motherf—–. What a dumb f— that 42 [Nemechek] is. Every week.” Nemechek, to his credit, assumed responsibility for the wreck, informing his crew chief: “Tell the 12 I’m sorry.”
As a result of the collision, Blaney sustained significant splitter damage, leading to a lengthy pit stop for repairs. The 32-year-old rejoined the field in 30th on Lap 126, with his hopes of winning the 2026 NASCAR In-Season Challenge quickly fading.
Fellow finalist Todd Gilliland — who restarted in 15th — fell towards the back of the pack as the race drew to a close, allowing Blaney to come within two spots of the Front Row Motorsports driver.
Yet Blaney would come no closer, as Gilliland successfully held onto his two-position cushion en route to finishing 24th — thereby emerging victorious in the five-week, 32-driver knockout bracket that includes a $1 million prize.
When asked how difficult his damaged car was to drive, Blaney replied: “It wasn’t great. I don’t think it helped us, obviously, but I don’t think it hurt us to like a killer extent. It was just, kind of stuck where you’re at after a few.”
Prior to Sunday’s gut-wrenching result, Blaney placed 11th or better in each of the first four in-season challenge races. Despite coming out on the losing end, he still congratulated Gilliland on his win before speaking with Nemechek post-race.
Addressing his conversation with Nemechek, Blaney told reporters: “Well he apologized and said he messed up. An apology’s nice, but it still happened and cost us a lot of money.”
Gilliland, meanwhile, capped off an improbable run during the in-season challenge, as the No. 25 seed finished higher than Daniel Suarez (No. 8 seed), Carson Hocevar (No. 9), Alex Bowman (No. 32), Chase Elliott (No. 4), and Blaney (No. 3).
“It was nerve-wracking,” Gilliland said of narrowly fending off Blaney at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “Even although we have been twenty fourth, twenty sixth or no matter, it felt good to really feel these nerves of somebody chasing you down — and for one thing significant. So, yeah, it appeared like we simply barely skated by each single spherical. It was simply, yeah, we did what we needed to do. We weren’t great at present, however we made essentially the most of it and got here out of right here as the in-season problem champion. We nonetheless bought a long strategy to go, however that is one thing to have a good time, for sure.”
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